Mission

The mission of Survivors Inspiring Sisters Through Art & Advocacy for Health, Inc. (SISTAAH) is to inform and educate the community with visual art as a medium to increase awareness of the benefits of early detection of breast cancer. Improvement of survival rates is crucial for African-American women — a population which suffers a disproportionately high rate of mortality despite being diagnosed less often than women in other ethnic groups. Art with a purpose can be experienced by connecting the community to breast health resource information in tandem with SISTAAH’s innovative, non-threatening methodology — discussion/visual art exhibition.

SISTAAH encourages and facilitates individual and collective engagement in advocacy activities on local, state and national levels to influence social and public policy to promote the improvement of quality in medical care in underserved populations, and to effect an increase in psychosocial services for breast cancer survivors.

Vision

Through breast health education, and referrals for resources to provide screening, detection of breast cancer in women in under-served communities will possibly occur at an early stage, increasing the potential for successful treatment and long term survivorship.

Values

SISTAAH collaborates with community-based organizations to provide resource information and inspirational messages toward the assurance that no woman should experience breast cancer alone. Further, SISTAAH provides education on the importance of lifestyle practices including stress reduction, nutrition and physical fitness for breast cancer survivors as well as the general public to encourage greater wellness within the community as a whole.

Artist Statement

Wilhelmina Obatola Grant is a native New Yorker and resident of Harlem. As a mixed-media assemblage artist, Wilhelmina uses found objects as a concrete way to interpret abstract emotional and psychological aspects of human behavior and social condition. Many of the ideas that stimulate the creation of her work are reflective of her interpretations of some contemporary social issues, namely: gentrification, violence against women and breast cancer awareness. It is her sincere hope to have an impact on the community through the realm of visual art.

“Every woman has a militant responsibility to involve herself actively in her own health. We owe ourselves the protection of all of the information we can acquire … and we owe ourselves this information before we may have reason to use it.”